Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) Short Interest Update

Alkermes plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,990,000 shares, an increase of 9.9% from the October 15th total of 7,270,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,890,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alkermes

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ALKS. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alkermes by 105.4% in the first quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Alkermes by 121.2% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 854 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Alkermes during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Alkermes during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Alkermes during the second quarter worth about $28,000. 95.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALKS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Alkermes from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Saturday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. TheStreet upgraded shares of Alkermes from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Alkermes in a research note on Tuesday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.00.

Alkermes Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ALKS opened at $24.24 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.94. Alkermes has a one year low of $22.01 and a one year high of $33.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55 and a beta of 0.62.

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 25th. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.19. Alkermes had a net margin of 13.50% and a return on equity of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $380.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $366.18 million. On average, analysts predict that Alkermes will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Alkermes Company Profile

Alkermes plc, a biopharmaceutical company, researches, develops, and commercializes pharmaceutical products to address unmet medical needs of patients in the fields of neuroscience and oncology in the United States, Ireland, and internationally. It has a portfolio of proprietary commercial products focused on alcohol dependence, opioid dependence, schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder and a pipeline of product candidates in development for neurological disorders and cancer.